Wasteland Luck
by RazanurTuk
Summary: In the irradiated wasteland of Puget Sound, a group of raiders bite off more than they can chew when they meet a scavenger known locally as the 'Black Cat' - a Follower of the Apocalypse with a big mouth, three eyebots, and legendarily bad luck.
1. Part 1

The mid-afternoon was grey, like all mid-afternoons in the Sound. Justin walked purposefully (for there was no other way to walk while wearing a power armor frame), bobbing his head and singing along to music piping from two eyebots that hovered alongside him. On his back was a supercomputer - _The_ Supercomputer. It was the size of a refrigerator, and as far as Justin knew, it was the smallest ever made. Almost four years prior his little clan, scavengers for the Followers of the Apocalypse, had found it near the base of Mt Rainier in a heavily fortified pre-war manufacturing base of some sort. Information about it was nonexistent, and it's secrets were buried under mountains of encryption. None of them wanted to leave it to rot there. So, using an old power armor frame and some metalworking skills, Justin devised a way to take the computer with them.

On the way back to their main base in Emperium, every single one of his friends died. Suddenly the Supercomputer was all that remained of the life he had known. They'd wanted him to crack it, and by god, he'd see that one last thing through.

In the years since, he had perfected his armor design. Now lugging the Supercomputer was only a slight burden, and not the nigh-impossible task it had started as. It still felt like the weight of the world, his haunted box, but as far as reasons for living went, he thought he could have done much worse.

The music coming from his left began to warble, fading in and out. Justin glanced over to find the eyebot spinning as it flew. Slung along it's underbelly was a modified laser rifle, and the weight of it made the second half of it's spin significantly faster than the first, and each rotation edged it out farther.

"Barrel. Quit it." Justin said. "Just fly normal, you fuckin' weirdo."

Barrel stopped spinning. To Justin's right, the other eyebot made a few low beeping noises. Justin looked over to it and nodded.

"You're right, you should be embarrassed to be related to him." He said, knowing very well that the beeping noises it made meant nothing.

Justin came to a cliff and stopped walking, putting his hands on his hips and surveying the landscape. It was scraggly rocks, dirt and trees for miles. A long, low hill cut the sky, over which peeked the very tops of skyscrapers - well, what remained of them. It was hard to see in all the low, grey clouds, but he could barely make out the distinctive skyline of what used to be the city of Seattle. He was still a couple days out from Seatac proper, but he'd traveled this route hundreds of times before, and he knew the land well. Attached to the Supercomputer on his back were bags and ropes hung heavy with tech he'd scavenged from his latest trek out into the mountains. After a quick stop at one of the trading outposts he'd be out into the wilderness again, resupplied and ready for another run.

His stomach growled, and he put out a hand toward the second, beepier eyebot. "Stock, drop." The bulbous capsule on the eyebots undercarriage opened, and a tin of Cram fell into his hand. "Thanks buddy." He said, hooking a finger under the tab and pulling it open.

Justin began making his way down the sharp incline toward the valley. The power armor frame on his legs whirred, easily finding footing on the rough terrain, mostly by slamming right through any debris that happened to be there. He ate as he walked, making a face at the weird aftertaste the 'meat' had and creating a mental note to find some RadAway before too long.

The sun, were it visible, would have just started creeping down toward the horizon. Justin expected to make it at least another couple miles or so before he had to make camp for the night. The low clouds that hung above weren't churning in the way that promised rain, which Justin was grateful for. It was getting a bit chilly and Justin didn't relish the idea of being both cold and wet.

Frantic beeping called Justin's attention to his wrist. He sighed and stopped walking, sitting back and letting the power armor frame provide a chair. He pulled up the Pip-Boy on his wrist (well, the shell of one, at least) and hit a button on the side. "What do ya got, Lock?"

A grainy image appeared on the tiny screen. The vantage was high above where he currently sat, and the top of the picture was fuzzy, disappearing into fog. He would have to remember to edit her flight parameters to try and avoid scraping the bottom of the clouds. "Lock, this is useless to me." He muttered. "You're too high up. Why did I let you out on your own."

He turned off the video feed and pulled up her source code.

**/start program-manual-override**

**/return to chassis**

**/enter**

The Pip-Boy beeped. '**New parameters accepted' **appeared on the screen, and Justin glanced at the sky behind him, scanning the underside of the clouds for a small ball. She was so high up he doubted he'd be able to find her against the grey sky. He wondered what she could have possibly managed to spot from all the way up there.

"It would have to be pretty big." He thought aloud, before his brain caught up with his mouth. "Oh… shit, that's probably a bad thing."

Gunfire cracked across the valley. Justin swore, throwing one of his arms up, hoping to at least block any bullets aimed at his head. Another shot rang out, and he heard something ping off metal entirely too close for comfort. To his left, the blinking lights on Barrel's chassis turned red, and the eyebot peeled off, disappearing between rocks and tree husks.

"HEY!" Justin bellowed, turning so his back was facing in the direction of the gunfire, using the Supercomputer to block line of fire. "RUDE! STOP FUCKING SHOOTING ME!"

From the cliff face above Justin heard a voice. "Holy shit it talks!"

"Yeah it fucking talks! Jesus Christ, in the middle of the fucking mountains and your opener is just to shoot, what the hell man!"

A different voice, this one older, female, and very scary, called out. "What in God's name do you have on your back, son?"

If Justin tried to imagine what a loaded 50 caliber sniper rifle would sound like if it could talk, it would be that voice. It made his blood run cold.

"Just a computer, ma'am!"

There was a pause.

"It ain't gonna explode or nothin'?"

"I sure hope not, ma'am, it's attached to me." There was no immediate response and Justin stared off into the grey rocks and rubble in front of him, imagining that sniper rifle voice taking careful aim at the back of his head. "And those were his last words." He whispered to himself. "Here lies Justin McShannon; dead of a bad case of the snark."

The Pip-Boy on his wrist chirped. After a brief moment of hesitation wherein he judged how shot he thought he would end up if he moved, he pulled it up and looked at the screen. Red words flashed on it, waiting for a prompt.

**Engage? y/n**

"Hey, um… so are we cool?" Justin asked aloud. Behind he heard movement, heavy footsteps on dirt and the snapping of dry branches. He tried to guess how many people, but all he could definitively settle on was 'more than three'. There was a lot of noise.

"Turn around."

Justin did.

Six people stood there, all dressed in dark leathers with welded bits of rusted metal and obviously-scavenged robotic parts making patchwork armor. Each had at least one gun, and all pointed squarely at him. Justin groaned. He recognized raiders when he saw them. They weren't exactly unique in the aesthetics department.

"Well the shoot-first-ask-questions-later thing makes sense now." Justin mumbled.

The older woman, clearly the one in charge, narrowed her eyes. In a surprising turn of events, the gun she had trained on him looked more like a shotgun than a sniper, though Justin knew it was just as lethal.

"What the fuck are you supposed to be?" She asked.

A thin, red-haired man next to her spoke up. "We thought you was a weird Protectron or somethin'."

"He's a Follower, look-" The woman standing to the leader's left stepped forward and pointed at the side of the Supercomputer with the barrel of her rifle. The filigree cross of the Followers of the Apocalypse gleamed on the dark metal. Justin had put it there himself a few years ago. She sneered at him, clearly unimpressed.

"Looks more like Brotherhood, with that getup." Another, a teenager, muttered.

"Where's the rest of your little buddies, eh?" The leader asked. Justin knew what that question really meant. '_How many people are gonna come after us if we kill you?'_

"Um, well you see-"

"Doesn't matter." The other woman interrupted. She used the barrel of her rifle to shove Justin's shoulder roughly. "They're Followers, bunch of pussies. Pacifists, right? Prolly have a good cry about you and move on."

"We're not pacifists, we're humanists." Justin said. The Pip-Boy on his wrist chirped again, and he held it up, nodding to it. "And my robot is neither, so do I call him off or are we doing this? And-" He put up a finger as the leader opened her mouth to talk, "I know I'm covered in tasty looking tech and maybe tasty looking meat, I dunno your lifestyles, I've seen some weird shit, but I would first like you to ask yourselves if any of you knows the average longevity of most tech, cause I bet you don't, and I guarantee it's not as long as you want, so it's probably more worthwhile for y'all to keep me alive rather than, you know, shooting me in the face and stealing my shit."

The woman who had shoved him glared and then raised her rifle into firing position. "Please let me shoot him."

The leader looked like she was considering it. Behind her, another of the raiders came forward and whispered something in her ear. Her eyes flicked over him, up and down, and then she shook her head. "Put the guns down, boys. You too, Bethany. Besides," She nodded at one of Justin's legs. "Too late for that."

Justin looked down and saw blood trickling from between the holes in his power armor frame. "Oh god dammit." He let out an annoyed sigh.

The Pip-Boy beeped again, one final time. Justin entered a negative response into it's prompt. Then he shifted, set the Supercomputer onto the ground, and detached the top half of his power armor frame. He stomped around to the side of the Supercomputer and grabbed his med bag. "Those are mine," He announced, hearing the puttering sounds of eyebots approaching. Barrel and Stock emerged from the trees, resuming their positions hovering on either side of him. From above he heard a third - Lock had finally seen fit to rejoin the pack. Justin glared at her; not that she had sentience to be offended or guilty.

"Thanks a lot." He muttered.

Justin stomped over to a nearby rock and put his injured leg up on it. He undid the side clamps and unlocked the frame, pulling his leg up enough to find the bullet hole in his jeans. Behind him, he could hear the raiders muttering amongst themselves.

"Yo what the fuck is this guy?"

"Who cares we should just kill him and be done with it."

Hoping at this point if they were going to kill him they would have done it already, Justin ignored them. He pulled a long set of tweezers and a bottle of alcohol from his medical bag. He stuck each end of the tweezers into the bottle, then unceremoniously jammed the tweezers into the bullet hole in his leg, feeling around for metal. Behind him, the raiders went silent. He dug around for awhile before finally feeling the tweezers scrape. He clamped down and pulled, and the end emerged with a red-slick bullet. He dropped it on the ground, then grabbed some gauze from his bag and started wrapping it around his leg tightly.

At this point he looked up to find all six of them watching him.

"What's up, are we done here?" He asked. "I got places to be, I assume you got places to be, we kickin' it?"

Their expressions ranged from horrified to confused, except the leader. She watched him shrewdly. "Who the hell are you?" She asked.

"Justin McShannon. Local trader, scout, tech guy, bullet sponge, you know. I would very much appreciate you not robbing me. I mean you already shot me. But that look on your face is a robbin' look; I know those when I see 'em. Trust me, it never goes well."

A smirk came onto her face. "Does it not?"

"Well… no. You think you're the first people to shake me down out here? Ask any of the other raid-um… professional… sc-scrounger...ssss…? Uh." He swallowed. "Ask anyone else you run across with your whole general…" He gestured at them as a unit. "Aesthetic. They'll tell ya. I think they call it a 'McShannon Bust.' A bit hurtful, but also kind of cool, I guess. At least someone out there's thinking of me, you know?"

"You've got a funny way of threatening people."

"Oh, I'm not trying to threaten you. Honest. But look, what do you think you're gonna take from me? These guys?" He jerked a thumb at the three eyebots hovering nearby. "They're programmed to follow my commands. Can you reprogram them? I doubt it. You can shoot 'em down I guess but it wouldn't be the first time I've rebuilt them. Gonna take my computer?" He banged a fist on the side of it and the sound echoed across the valley. "It's encrypted to shit, literally useless, and good luck carrying it. My power armor frame ain't worth the time, I've modified it so much it's basically only good for carrying the computer, can't get actual power armor on it anymore. So your best bet is… I dunno, my supplies? You're already not killing me so I'd hope you wouldn't leave me out here to starve to death. And, in case you are so inclined, I got a better option for you. Y'all are headed into Seatac I assume?"

"That direction, yes."

Justin nodded. "Alright well you so happen to be talking to the guy who knows this area the best. I also happen to be heading that way. So, instead of robbing me, why don't we just… all go that way in a nice little group?"

The angry woman (Bethany, right?) spat. "We've been fine on our own this far."

"Yes, and that is impressive, don't get me wrong. But, let me guess…" Justin turned to look out over the valley, and then pointed to a barely-visible break in the wilderness, the remnants of a highway. "You were gonna head there and follow that road over the hills into the city, right?"

"...Yes."

"Ah. Rookie mistake. That road might as well be named 'Kodiak Boulevard'. Can't blame you, it does look real inviting. The kodiak know that. They're clever bastards."

"What's a kodiak?"

"Oh, right, y'all aren't from around here. I think they're called yao guai, other parts?"

Bethany smirked. "We can handle some yao guai."

"Can you handle them when they're as big as a truck?" He saw their faces collectively pale. "Oh yeah, we got 'em bigger and badder here. Closer you get to the Sound you start seeing shit that makes even deathclaws look cute. I don't know if you know this, but the ocean-" He held up a finger for dramatic effect. "The ocean is a fucking evil place where fucking evil shit lives. Do you know which of these lakes are connected to the death ocean and which aren't? Do you know what areas have been staked out by bandit clans, or where the super mutants live? Do you even know what a sabir is, much less how to avoid them? Trick question - you can't, you just gotta pray they're not hungry."

"Surely there can't be that much shit here."

Justin shrugged. "Welcome to the wild north, baby. We got it all up here. 80% of it is awful."

The group looked to their leader. She eyed Justin for a few moments, shadows in the deep lines on her face. "Fine," she said, "on one condition."

"What's that?"

"You talk less."

Justin nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. Behind him, Stock let out a series of pleasant beeps.


	2. Part 2

Over the next few hours, Justin managed to learn the names of all his new traveling companions. Bethany, of course, was the angry one. Their leader was called Silverado. The skinny redhead was Gus. Two of the others were brothers, Matt and Hardy, and the last was a middle-aged guy named Jacob. None of them were particularly pleasant, but Justin had to fight to keep himself quiet as they traveled regardless. It had been a long time since he'd had anyone to talk to.

Evening was falling upon them when Justin held up a hand. "Alright hang tight for a sec."

Silverado had been keeping pace beside him, and she gripped her shotgun, her eyes scanning the landscape. "What is it?"

"Up ahead, there's a pass through these foothills. It'll cut a few hours off our time, but with all the rain and storms we get it's about a fifty-fifty shot that it's blocked. I'm gonna send Lock out to give it a look, don't wanna get all the way out there just to have to turn back."

Silverado nodded. She turned back to the others. "We're takin' a breather." She said.

"Oh thank God," Gus plopped down on a rock, rubbing his legs. The others followed suit. "We making camp?"

"Not yet," Justin said. He whistled and waved at Lock, who started puttering over.

"The fuck you mean not yet? We've been walking for hours and it's getting dark!"

Silverado crossed her arms and stared Gus down. "You got a problem?"

Gus blanched under her eye. "No, but I mean, we ain't all got bionic legs over here." He said. "Crazy motherfucker walkin' for six hours straight with a damn bullet hole in his knee…"

Justin ignored him, staring intently into the large camera that served as Lock's eye. He pulled the retractable plug from his Pip-Boy and plugged it into a port on her chassis. "Alright, listen here. You fucked up earlier, and I'm willing to accept my part of the blame for that. I'm ready to move past it. I need you to do something, and really, please, I cannot stress this enough - don't fuck it up! Okay? You're gonna fly up that ridge right there-" He pointed, "And you're gonna go to Brahmin Neck Pass; you know the one, and you're gonna look at it. Real hard. Got it?"

As he spoke he programmed the coordinates and flight path instructions into his Pip-Boy. He hit 'enter' and detached the connection. She flew off.

"What's the plan if the pass is blocked?" Silverado asked.

"Ehh, there's another one nearer the middle of the valley. It's too close to the kodiak territory for my taste and it takes longer cause you gotta skirt the edge of the foothills."

"Can't we just… walk right through?" Matt spoke up, pointing into the craggly wilderness in front of them.

"Absolutely not." Justin snapped. "Maybe wherever y'all are from you can just wander around willy-nilly, but these are the fucking Cascades, and they will kill your ass."

Matt put his hands up. "Alright legs, chill, sorry I asked."

"Don't be sorry just do better." Justin muttered, returning his attention to his Pip-Boy. Grainy images filled the little screen, snapshots of Lock's voyage up the foothills. She was fast, so he didn't expect this to take long. The last time he'd come around this way was a little more than a month ago. It had been clear then, but they'd had some significant rainfall in the last couple weeks. One would think that eventually the mountains would run out of shit to run downhill, but apparently not.

"So, once we get into Seatac proper, where are you lot headed?" Justin asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.

The raiders exchanged glances, apparently debating how much to tell him. Justin rolled his eyes, poking buttons moodily. "Alright whatever, who the fuck am I, just the guy getting you into Seatac without getting eaten, fuck me I guess."

"We heard a rumor, 'bout a city in a skyscraper, lookin' for recruits." Jacob said. Bethany gave him a poisonous glare, and he shrugged. "What? Maybe he knows it!"

"Thank you, sir; in fact I do know it." Justin said. "You're talking about Columbia."

Jacob's face brightened. "So it's real?"

"Oh yeah. Not sure about 'recruits', though…" Justin gave the group a once-over. "I mean y'all look like you'd fit in fine there, so what do I know. I don't go that far north if I can help it, past the stadium it all gets a bit… populated for my taste."

"And I'm sure they all thank their lucky stars for that." Bethany sneered.

"Hurtful." Justin responded. _And accurate._

Justin's Pip-Boy chirped. Lock had gotten to her set coordinates. He pulled up the image, and groaned. Smack in the middle of the pass was a collection of shattered tree trunks and debris. It would take hours to clear it, and even then the footing was going to be atrocious the whole time. Not worth the risk.

"Alright well the pass is a no-go." He announced, sending a return directive to Lock. "Unfortunate but not really surprising with how the weather's been lately. Inland route it is." He stood back up, cracking his neck and letting out a long breath.

"How much time is that gonna lose us?" Silverado asked.

"Eh, realistically not that much, only a couple hours. I mainly wanted to avoid the inland valley, lots of nasty critters out there."

"Kodiak, right?"

"Unfortunately, though they're usually further east this time of year and don't wander too far."

Silverado studied him for a long moment. "What else?"

"I… did see a deathclaw. Once. A long time ago." Justin admitted. The lines in Silverado's face hardened, and her grip on her shotgun tightened. Justin heard the creak of metal and leather. He put up his hands. "Look, I ain't super stoked, but I've gone this way hundreds of times since. I'll keep a wide scouting range with these-" he pointed to Stock and Barrel, "-and we'll be just fine."

Her lip curled, and she looked past him, surveying the landscape to the north. He knew the look in her eyes - she was debating whether she thought they could make it without him. Then she let out an annoyed sigh and looked back at him. She nodded. "Alright Scav, lead the way."


	3. Part 3

An hour later, while they were setting up camp in a clear crevice between two large rock formations, Hardy started cursing.

"God fucking dammit! Where the fuck did it go!?"

Justin paused in cleaning out Barrel's exhaust, paying close attention to the raiders across the fire. In his experience, most raiders were one minor inconvenience away from shooting everyone on a good day, and this sounded a hell of a lot worse than that.

"What's up, Hardy?" Matt asked.

"My fucking ammo bag! Look-" He held up the torn remains of a strap, loose threads dangling from patchwork leather and cloth. "Who knows when the hell it came off! All my fusion cells were in there!"

"Hardy you moron, you didn't notice losing your ammo bag?" Bethany snapped.

"I don't fucking know, this lunatic has us climbin' over rocks all fucking day!" Hardy pointed at Justin, who made a point to not say anything and continued setting up his tent.

"Well how many do you have left?"

"I don't-" Hardy shrugged and pulled out his pistol. "I mean, my gun's full, so 30?"

Bethany looked over to Justin, eyeing the bags and straps on the Supercomputer. "Yo Scavver, whatcya got in there?" She asked, her tone demonstrating the question was merely a formality.

Justin sighed. "I dunno, I got some fusion cells around but I need 'em too. This shit don't run on sunlight and happy thoughts." He put his screwdriver in his teeth and stomped over to the Supercomputer, pushing bags aside until he found the right one. He pulled out a handful of fusion cells. "I can spare a few if you promise not to shoot me with 'em. And these ain't freebies, either." He tossed them over to Hardy one at a time, counting out ten.

Silverado was notably quiet. Justin's hands curled into fists, but he reminded himself to hold his tongue. Worst case, not getting paid for those cells was still better than getting full-on robbed and left in some ditch. He'd gotten through worse. This was not the hill to die on.

"You know, with the right materials and know how, you can actually turn expended cells into working ones. I mean not on a one for one, but four, five cells will get you enough for one." He offered.

"That's great, you can have my trash when I'm done. Call it even."

"That's not what I- eugh." Justin shook his head and went back to what he'd been doing. Eyebots needed repairs, he didn't have time to debate the advantages of scientific know-how with a bunch of raiders. "Barrel, hey-" He tapped his screwdriver on Barrel's lens. "Roll back over you ain't done."

Barrel obliged, and Justin returned to tightening up the laser rifle attached to his underside. One of the screws was getting finicky, but he'd made a bad decision on the part he'd used initially and was having a hard time finding a replacement. Hopefully once he got back to civilization he'd be able to find someone with the right scrap - otherwise he was going to have to weld a whole new casing for it, and that was going to be an ordeal. Currently he was just keeping a close eye on it and hoping it lasted, otherwise Barrel was only going to be able to shoot downward. He flew, so that wasn't necessarily useless, but…

"Hey."

The voice startled him and he dropped his screwdriver. Barrel rolled back over with a little beep that sounded for a moment like he was laughing and puttered off.

Bethany watched Justin as he scrambled to pick his screwdriver up.

"Yes! Hello, hi. What do… you want?" Justin asked.

"I just… kind of feel like we got off on the wrong foot." She said, brushing a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Oh… really? I mean you don't really come off as the type to-"

She punched him in the jaw.

She probably expected him to go down. The punch packed a wallop. However Justin barely moved, legs sturdy in the power armor frame. He turned his head and let out a rough breath, blinking the stars from his eyes, and then looked back at her.

If she was taken aback by his response (or lack of one), she didn't show it. "That's for your fuckin' mouth." She snarled. "Piece of shit Follower, thinking you're so high and mighty, so much smarter than us fucking poor ass raiders."

"Wow, projecting much." Justin knew it would get him punched again, but the words came out of his mouth anyways, and sure enough, she smacked him hard in the face once more. This one made his ears ring, and he tasted blood. To his right, Barrel's lights turned red and the eyebot let out a low beep, swiveling his gun to point at Bethany.

"Barrel, stand down." Justin said. Barrel let out a small chirp of acknowledgement, but his lights remained red.

Bethany smirked. "Won't even fight back. Typical."

"I've just seen enough people ashed in my day. And trust me, if I wanted to kill y'all I'd have let you carry on your merry way." Justin spat. "It's the fucking big leagues up here. And you know it, I can tell; folks don't last long without instincts for that sort of thing. You know you're in shit out here. You need me, but you're too proud to admit it. That's fucking stupid. Pride gets you killed. Anger gets you killed. So rage all you want, but it ain't gonna change what happens. You're gonna go off to your little tent, sleep or get high or whatever the fuck you wanna do, and tomorrow morning we're all gonna keep walking toward Seatac." He gestured back toward the others with the end of his screwdriver. "Now run the fuck along, I got work to do."

With that he turned his back on her. "Barrel, now!" He snapped, and the eyebot resumed his earlier position, rotating so he could see the laser rifle. Bethany hovered for a few more moments, fists clenched. She wanted to keep hitting him, he knew, but she wouldn't. She probably wanted to do a lot more than that. In a couple days, when they made it as far north as he was willing to go, he might have to pay the piper for getting himself mixed up in all of this. For the time being, though, he was safe.

That being said, when he pitched his tent that night, he put his back to the woods. Nothing that could sneak up on them in the darkness scared him more than what was already in his camp.


	4. Part 4

The next day they set off while the sun was still rising, somewhere beyond the clouds. Justin didn't normally like moving until dawn was long past - predators were always more active before the sun was fully up. But the sooner they started walking, the sooner he'd be done with this mess.

"So you see that?" He pointed to a dip in the hill to the north. Through it the main skyline of Seatac should have been somewhat visible - on a good day, one could barely see the shapes of skyscrapers. Today it was as if the clouds never stopped, and a wall of grey mist hung like a specter over the horizon.

"Those clouds up top, that's the Shroud. And below, that fog, that's the Choke. Radioactive to hell, can't see for shit through it. It kind of gathers in the low valleys, there's some areas of the city that no one's been able to go into for as long as anyone can remember, just huge dead zones. Well aside from feral ghouls and stuff like that. I've never seen it this huge, must be some weather moving through. It should clear up by the time we get in. Hope y'all have some Rad-X just in case."

"Nobody said nothing about rad clouds." Hardy muttered.

Justin shrugged. "I mean if they're trying to recruit, why would they. Not exactly a good selling point. 'Come to Seatac! We've got sea monsters, land monsters, mountains of death, and rad clouds!'. Personally I'm shocked there's not pilgrimages all the time." He stared off into the distance for a moment. "Actually we should be swarming with Children of Atom. Why aren't we? God we're too terrible for even them."

"If you're the welcoming party I'd fucking leave too." Bethany said.

"Hey I'm not making you follow me. And I'm a deli- shit!" Justin held up a hand and stopped walking. Ahead he'd heard the snapping of twigs. Big ones. The raiders froze. He had to hand it to them; when they needed to act like a combat unit, they rose to the occasion.

Justin crouched, setting the Supercomputer on the ground as quietly as he could. He reached back and grabbed his pistol from it's holster, putting a finger to his lips as he did.

Seeing him reaching for his weapon, the raiders followed suit. They stood there in silence for a few tense moments. Justin strained to hear, and considered sending Lock ahead to scout out.

"Maybe we scared it off." Silverado whispered.

Justin nodded. It was probably a radstag, spooked by the sound of them approaching through the trees. Shame, really. Radstags could feed a person for a whole week. If they'd snuck up on it they could have made some easy dinner. Better than candied apples and potato crisps, at least. The forest was silent. Justin let out a few shaky breaths and let his finger relax on the trigger of his pistol. "Alright I think we're good. We should b-"

A blur of leathery skin and claws burst out of the foliage. Justin had only enough time to take in cruel, curved horns and a snarling maw before chaos erupted.

"BARREL, ENGAGE!" Justin screamed.

The eyebot turned red, and with a whir of power the laser rifle slung around, lancing crimson beams at the ravening monster. Gunfire exploded on all sides as the raiders scattered. The deathclaw roared and charged, it's talons scraping up chunks of dirt and dead grass. It slammed into Matt and sent him flying, then swiped with it's arms. One caught Justin on the backswing, powerfully enough to make him tumble backward, armor frame and all.

Silverado butted her shotgun up against her shoulder and blasted it in the chest. Chunks of armored skin and blood went flying. The deathclaw screeched and lurched forward, bearing down on her. She went under its hulking form.

Justin got to his feet, took two loping strides forward, and kicked it in the head. One of it's horns cracked and it stumbled sideways, letting out a canine yelp. Silverado scrambled backward and Bethany helped haul her to her up. The deathclaw clambered to its feet, turning beady eyes on the pack of them. Blood leaked from it's cracked horn, dripping onto its face and exposed teeth. The raiders emptied bullets into it, but most didn't seem to be penetrating, instead imbedding themselves into its thick hide.

Lasers bolted from somewhere above, striking it in the face. The deathclaw snarled, it's skin sizzling where the lasers had hit, and turned its attention to Barrel, circling overhead. It swiped up, once, and Barrel easily rose above it's reach.

Unfortunately, the deathclaw was clever enough to know a lost cause when it saw one. It sprang forward again, swiping and scattering the group like bowling pins. Justin heard ripping leather and smelled the copper sting of blood. The deathclaw barreled through them, and it's claws found Jacob's torso. They dug in, and he let out a choked scream that cut off abruptly as the deathclaw slammed him into the ground and dragged him through the dirt.

"FUCK!" Silverado shouted, emptying her shotgun into it's back. The slugs shredded into it's skin and it screamed and whirled, hauling Jacob's broken body along like a red ragdoll. Barrel whirred and pelted it with more laser fire. Justin added his own pistol to the mix, though his piddly .10 mil might as well have been water against its hide. Finally laser fire - Barrel or Hardy, it was impossible to tell - burned a sizzling hole into one of the thing's eyes. The deathclaw howled, putting one hand over its face. It snarled but took a step back, glaring at them with it's remaining eye.

Seeming to decide they weren't worth the trouble, the deathclaw roared and rose up on its hind legs, it's tail thrashing the dry foliage. It dug its claws into Jacob's body, then turned and thundered into the woods, barreling trees over in its wake.

The six of them were left speechless, panting and in shock, until finally Hardy let out a scream. "What the fuck! What the… FUCK! That- that thing-!"

"Hardy, I know-" Silverado tried to interject, but it was too late.

"That thing fucking killed him!"

"We have to go get his body back!" Matt spoke up. His face was pale. Bethany turned on him immediately.

Bethany spat. "Are you fucking kidding? We're lucky it got away with just him, we need to get the hell out of here before it comes back for seconds!"

"You wanna leave him to get eaten?"

"YES!" Silverado roared, startling the rest into silence. She took a deep breath, then fixed Matt with a hard stare. "Bethany is right. We don't have the firepower to go after it. We're lucky it only got one of us, we need to move while we can. Scavver," She turned to Justin. "What's the quickest way out of this hellhole?"

"We're on it." Justin said. He looked at their faces, tired, hurt, angry, and swallowed nervously. "Look I… Jesus, I'm sorry. They only ever come through here when they're like… young and looking for territory, or old and got kicked out of their pack, this… This isn't where they're supposed to be."

Hardy and Bethany's expressions were pure poison. Matt looked away and wiped his eyes, trying to be inconspicuous about it. Gus blinked wordlessly. Silverado shook her head. "Shit happens. It's the fucking wasteland." She turned back to the others. "Check yourselves, don't want a bunch of us walkin' around on injuries we don't know about. Be quick about it, we shouldn't linger."

Justin walked back to the Supercomputer, putting a hand on the rough metal and trying to stop his head from spinning. The air hung thick with the scent of blood and gunpowder. Lock, Stock and Barrel hovered nearby, beeping quietly. Justin looked up at Barrel and gave him a weak thumbs-up. His hand was shaking. "Good job, boy." He said under his breath. Barrel chirped, his lights back to their calm green.

Justin took in a shuddering inhale and ran both hands through his hair. It was a little bit too long, barely hanging in his eyes and it felt rough with dirt and grime. The stubble on his face had gotten thick. His heart pounded in his chest, adrenaline still pumping. It would break any moment, he knew. He closed his eyes and put his head up against the Supercomputer. He probably looked about as ragged as he felt.

"Scav."

Justin opened his eyes. Matt was looking at him with concern. "Are… are you gonna…" He pointed. "You're bleeding."

Justin looked down. Sure enough, the spot of red on his jeans from the previous day had gotten larger. He groaned, slouching into the Supercomputer even more. "Fucking perfect." He muttered into the metal. His patch job on the bullet hole yesterday must not have been up to snuff. What a shock.

"Yeah I'll handle it." He said. He grabbed his medical bag and stomped over to a nearby rock, putting his leg up on it. This time when he pulled his leg out he ripped the bullet hole in his jeans open fully, wondering why he felt the need to try and save them in the first place. Blood smeared everywhere and the gauze he'd haphazardly wrapped the day before was a jumbled mess. "Shoulda just done this in the first place…" He muttered, fishing around in his bag for a needle and thread. He pulled out the alcohol bottle and poured some out on the thread, then splashed a bit on the wound, clearing away blood. He peered closely at the skin, hoping not to see signs of infection. Blood oozed from the puncture, but it didn't look significantly worse than the day before. It probably just opened back up in the fight.

"You gotta pay better attention than this." Justin berated himself, beginning to sew up the puncture wound. "Get your shit together, you're a fuckin' mess."

Stock made that low beeping noise she did, and while he knew it wasn't in response to him, it did make him feel a bit better.

Justin pulled the sutures tight. He'd gotten fairly practiced at this over the years, but they still looked sloppy. They'd hold, though. He wiped his bloody hands on his jeans - he wasn't going to keep them after all this. Once he was rid of these raiders he'd scrounge up a new pair. He pulled out more gauze and wrapped the wound up once more, then shoved his leg back into the armor frame and closed the clamps. He threw his supplies back into his med bag and returned it to its proper place on the Supercomputer.

Looking back to the others, he saw Bethany wrapping gauze on her arm. Hardy was helping Matt, whose back was a mess of purple blotches where he'd been thrown by the deathclaw.

"Y'all alright?" Justin asked.

"Fine, scav." Bethany snipped. The others ignored him, except Matt, who nodded quietly before looking back to his brother.

Justin returned to the Supercomputer. He slipped back into the armor frame torso welded to it and hoisted it up, ready to continue on. He stared at the ground as he did so. It was amazing how being alone had felt less lonely than this.


	5. Part 5

Around mid-afternoon they finally reached the other side of the valley. All that remained was one last incline, over the top of which Seatac and the Sound would spread out below. Here the trees were thick, but Justin knew about halfway up the hill they would finally start to thin as they approached the edge of what used to be the city proper. The old buildings out here were rotting and dangerous, and packs of feral ghouls stalked the haunted streets. Most folks avoided places where the ghost of civilization and wilderness met, and Justin aimed to move them through it as quickly as possible. There was a road he knew that had survived the years surprisingly intact, and it garnered enough traffic that it had been flushed clear of most dangers a long time ago. If he was lucky there'd be a trade caravan moving down it that they could join up with. That would certainly put a damper on the raiders' plans to rob him at the end of this endeavor.

"Lock," He called. The eyebot puttered down to him. He plugged the Pip-Boy into her and pulled up her code.

"What're you doing?" Silverado asked.

"We're gonna be leaving the tree cover soon, I'm sending her ahead to scout out the way. Might be some caravans we can join with. At the very least she'll be able to see if there's any packs of feral ghouls we need to avoid."

Silverado did not look excited at the prospect of caravans, but the threat of ghouls stayed her tongue.

Justin edited Lock's parameters to hopefully keep her from flying directly up into the clouds. What he really needed was some time to sit down and go through her code, but right now the best he could do was throw some patch code in and hope it didn't cascade and break something further down the line. It probably would. He unplugged her.

"Alright, hop to it." He said.

She beeped, her lights blinking, and then flew off.

They continued moving. Justin watched his Pip-Boy, waiting anxiously to see if Lock picked up signs of anyone else out there in the wilderness. Behind, the raiders were murmuring amongst themselves. To his left, Stock beeped pleasantly. Justin gave her a sidelong glance.

"You're right. This was a mistake." He mumbled.

They reached the bottom of the incline. Loose rocks were strewn among the underbrush, making the footing somewhat treacherous. Justin didn't stop, plowing easily up the hill. He heard the raiders climbing behind him, but couldn't be bothered to check if they were making it alright. He'd hear if someone fell.

After a few meters of climbing, the hill evened out into a more gradual slope. To the right, Justin could see buildings through the trees, the very outskirts of the subdivision that used to cover the area. He'd always meant to pop by sometime to take a look through them. What he was really looking for was tech, and more often that meant diving into old industrial buildings, manufacturing plants, and mechanic shops. Houses weren't the best place for specialty scrap, but they often had food, clothes and, with luck, water. He was running low on all three.

As they moved through the trees, Silverado pointed ahead. "What's that?" She asked. She didn't sound concerned so much as confused.

Justin looked ahead. Through breaks in the trees he saw a long, low shape, stretching past his line of vision in either direction. He stopped walking.

"That's a palisade."

"A palla-what?" Gus asked.

"A pali- Christ, a wall. Obviously." Justin pointed. He ground his teeth together as he looked at it. "This wasn't here a couple months ago. This is bad." He said.

Gunfire cracked. They immediately took shelter behind various trees, but as another shot rang out it became quite clear the fire was not in their direction. On his wrist, Justin's Pip-Boy beeped. He held it up and read the words flashing on the screen.

"Ah god dammit no, they're shooting at Lock!" He typed furiously and brought up her video feed. The view was bobbing a few feet above the treeline. Ahead he could see where the forest ended. Haphazard buildings stood there, all scavenged metal sheets and wood. Nearest the trees stood a low watchtower of sorts, and on it he could see two figures. One was taking aim at Lock with a long rifle. He saw light reflect off the glass of a scope.

"Shit, nope, I just rebuilt you." Justin opened her command prompt. "Ain't doing that again, dodge you little bastard."

**run/evasive_maneuver4**

He hit 'enter', and Lock abruptly fell out of the sky.

Ahead through the trees he heard the sound of branches breaking and banging metal, followed by a 'thud' of impact. On his Pip-Boy, the screen was black for a moment, before the words 'Signal Lost' appeared.

"That… was not evasive maneuver four." Justin said, too shocked to form any ideas beyond that.

"The fuck do we do now?" Silverado hissed.

Justin looked up from his Pip-Boy. "I…" He hesitated, mulling it over. "...really wanna go get my eyebot back, honestly."

"That's a sniper rifle they got." She said.

"Yeah, and they didn't hit her with it. She's probably only a bit banged up, maybe some parts jostled, nothing I can't fix. Hell of a lot easier than a bullet hole."

"I'm not talking about the robot, YOU are going to get a bullet hole if you go out there!"

"Oh… I guess, maybe…" Justin peeked out from behind the tree, eyeing the palisade only a few yards away. He looked up, finding the break in the forest beyond the wall. She couldn't have been that far ahead of them. If he ran, he'd probably be able to grab her before they came looking. "How sturdy does that look to you? I mean it looks sturdy but like… power-armor-kick sturdy?"

She shook her head. "Scav, don't you dare."

"You… are not my boss." Justin said, only half paying attention to her. "Besides, what else are we gonna do, walk around it?"

"Yes!"

"Eh, that's a whole thing. I'd rather not do it without our scout." Justin waved her off. "The longer we talk the less time we have. I'll be right back." He knelt, setting the Supercomputer on the ground, and shrugged out of its harness. Ignoring her continued protests, he darted out from behind the tree, trying to be as stealthy as possible while wearing 200 pounds of metal.

He approached the palisade, searching it for weak points. Along the top ran a line of spikes, sharpened wooden stakes wrapped with wire. The wall itself was made of intersecting panels of wood and metal, layered on top of each other. If whoever built this was smart, the layers would stagger the entire length, leaving no real seams.

In Justin's experience, intelligence was hard to come by in the wasteland.

Justin ran a hand along the wall, testing the give. He found a panel of wood that bent as he pushed. He stopped there, eyed the panel, adjusted, and then kicked. The armor frame on his legs whirred and punched a hole straight through. He pulled his leg out and kicked again, widening the break, and then started pulling bits of splintered wood off, tossing them to the side. He ducked, looking through the hole he'd made, and stopped. It was dark on the other side.

"Shit… what the hell?" He blinked, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness. Dimly he saw what might have been the outline of a door, a few feet away. Long shapes stood in the gloom, light reflecting off coils of wire sitting in the corner. He'd apparently kicked his way into some sort of storage room. He squeezed through, trying to pick his way through the clutter to the door.

Outside, he heard shouting. No gunshots - yet. He froze, debating where to go, and then he heard the distinct sound of metal sliding on metal. The door in front of him unlocked, and pulled open. Justin put up ha hand, blinking against the sudden light and trying to discern anything at all about the figure in the doorway besides that it was pointing a rifle at him.

"God dammit," He heard the figure say, and the voice registered in Justin's mind as one he'd heard before. "I knew I recognized that eyebot." The gun lowered. "The fuck you doing knocking holes in my wall, Black Cat?"

Justin's eyes adjusted to the light enough for him to recognize the face of the person in front of him. Dark skin, and a scar running through one eye that left it milky white. "Vienna? The fuck you doing in the middle of nowhere with a palisade?" Justin responded. "Last I checked your lot was in Renton."

"Choke moved in, pushed us south." Vienna said. He set his gun on his shoulder and pointed behind Justin. "You're fixing my wall."

Justin looked at the hole he'd smashed through and shrugged. "Yeah, that's fair. Look, I came in looking for Lock, y'all were shooting at her."

"Only a few times before I recognized that metalwork. I have no idea why it dropped, we didn't hit it."

"Yeah, that was on me." Justin said. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the hole. "Look I got some folks I'm leading into Seatac, you got a gate or something we can go through?"

A strange look passed over Vienna's face. "You leadin' people into Seatac? Where?"

"They're heading to Columbia I think. I'm just heading in to restock."

"Columbia? Who the fuck you got with you?"

"Who the fuck you think?" Justin responded, voice low. "And what're you gettin' on about with that judgemental look? You forgotten how we met?"

"That," Vienna countered, "was a long time ago-"

"Two years-"

"-AND I've grown a lot since then. And frankly, I've learned to pick my battles." Vienna shook his head, then backed out of the doorway, gesturing for Justin to follow. "These people gonna rob you when you're all done?"

"Hopefully not?" Justin ducked out of the small doorway. The inside of the wall was more complex than it looked from the other side - it was less of a palisade and more of a true wall, five or six feet thick, with a walkway atop and stairs that ran along the side of the storage room Justin had broken into. Further in past the treeline Justin saw a couple buildings constructed around the shells of pre-existing houses.

"Damn, you got a whole little compound here." Justin commented. "Y'all got this up quick."

Vienna shrugged. "Drastic times, all that." He eyed Justin with what might have been concern. "You really heading into Seatac?"

Now it was Justin's turn to eye Vienna. "Should I not?" Part of him was hoping Vienna needed something - he'd sold his services to the man before, keeping his guns and tech running. It was a straight enough shot to Seatac from here, the others could make it without him if he had an excuse to stay.

Vienna mulled it over for a moment, then shook his head. "Nah it's fine. Just surprised is all. Look-" He sighed and put a hand on his hip, looking back at the storage room. "Far as I'm concerned, quicker you get your rain cloud away from my home, the better. Let's call it square on the wall, my men did try to shoot your robot down. I'll open the gate. Go get your friends and I'll let you guys through."

Justin tried his best not to look disappointed. "Thanks." He said, though he couldn't force a whole lot of sincerity into his voice.

Vienna whistled. Further back toward the buildings, Justin saw a couple people sitting near a burning trash can look up. Vienna waved them over. Both had long, mean-looking rifles, and both looked Justin up and down, sizing him up in the way only raiders could. "Dianne, go get that eyebot, and be careful with it. Keith, hop up top and open the gate. We're letting these folks go through."

It looked like both of them had some opinions about their orders, but they kept it to themselves. As Justin and Vienna stood in front of the gate, Justin gave Vienna a sidelong glance. "Back in Renton you woulda killed a rival gang as soon as look at 'em." He said, and then smirked. "I'm rubbing off on you, aren't I?"

"Nah," Vienna turned as the gate began to swing open and clapped a hand on Justin's shoulder. "Just be a waste of bullets. They'll be dead enough before long - they're with you."

The humor left Justin's face. "Hey fuck you." He snapped.

Vienna grinned, tipping his hat and walking away. He pointed across the way, to the gate on the other side of the compound, which stood open. "Get the fuck outta my home, Black Cat." He called as he left.

Justin watched him miserably as the gate squeaked open. "It wasn't my fault." He muttered, swallowing hard as his throat got tight around the words. He sighed and looked at the ground, fighting off the wave of loneliness and bitter resentment that Vienna's words had shot through him.

"Hey!"

Justin started and looked up at the voice. Atop the wall, the man who'd opened the gate pointed. "Gate's open, you getting your friends or what?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Justin muttered. He walked out of the gate, eyes still on the ground a few feet in front of him. "Ain't my friends, though…"

Justin returned to the little glade where he'd left the others. It wasn't until he actually saw them, still sitting there waiting, that he realized he'd half expected them to leave without him.

"Holy shit he's alive." Gus said. "Y'all owe me ten caps."

"What's the story, Scav?" Silverado asked.

"They're gonna let us through." Justin said.

"Just… like that?"

"Yeah. I uh, actually know the guy in charge, so it's whatever." Justin sighed. He whistled, and Barrel and Stock descended from the tree cover he'd ordered them to hide in. He went back to the Supercomputer and looked at it for a moment, briefly considering whether he should go through his bags to see if they'd stolen anything. "Fuck it, does it really matter?" He asked himself.

"What?" Apparently he hadn't been quiet, judging from the look Matt was giving him.

Justin waved a hand. "Nothing." He slipped back into the power armor torso and hoisted the Supercomputer up. "Let's get moving, we've lost enough time as it is."

He led them back through the gate. On the other side, a woman was waiting for them, holding Lock. She held her out. "This yours?"

Justin took Lock from her. "Thanks." He muttered.

"What model is that?" She asked, sounding genuinely curious. "I've never seen one with that kind of lens."

"I uh… I built her." Justin said. "Just used a regular chassis as a base, put in a camera I found in an old film studio a few years ago."

"Oh, it looks like it was built like that." She smiled. "You're pretty good, aren't you?"

"I guess."

Her face fell, but then she shook her head and stepped back. "Vienna said he didn't want you all hanging around too long. Other gate is just over there." She pointed.

Justin nodded, tucking Lock under his arm. "Thanks." He said. He stomped off, and the others fell into step behind him.


	6. Part 6

A few hours later they finally crested the top of the hill. Seatac spread out in the valley below, all shattered buildings and rolling fog, and behind, the black waters of the Sound. Lights peppered the shadows of the valley, and in the distance, lightning crackled from the dark clouds that hung perpetually in the sky. To their right, the Cascades curved out and around, their tops shrouded in mist. To the left and across the Sound, the Olympics mirrored them, standing tall and menacing.

"Wow." Matt breathed.

"Welcome to Seatac, boys and girls." Justin said.

"Where's Columbia?" Silverado asked.

Justin pointed into the tangle of skyscrapers in the valley below. The tops all disappeared into the low, dark clouds, but rumor had it that Columbia was the tallest. No one had ever made it high enough to know for sure.

"See that real dark one over there? With the funky curved side?"

"Yeah. That it?"

"It is indeed."

"That doesn't look far." Silverado said with what might have been hope.

Justin shook his head. "It's not, but it's too far to get there today. Sun's gonna start going down soon, and we don't wanna get caught out. The Choke can move in like that-" He snapped. Then he grimaced as an uncomfortable pang rolled through his lower back. He sniffed the air, looking out over the Sound.

"Storm's coming." He announced.

"What?"

"Smell that?" Justin sniffed again. "That salt on the air? Wind's picking up real strong, that's coming in off the Sound. Pressure's going down, and with all these clouds rolling around up here in the foothills, it-" He cut off, taking a sharp breath as the pain in his back spiked. "Ah, fuck. Yeah, it's gonna be a doozy. We need to find shelter ASAP."

"Will one of those buildings work?" Silverado pointed down the hill. The trees here continued to be sparse, the forest giving way to old subdivisions. That didn't improve visibility much. The roads were windy, and much of the landscape north of them laid hidden behind old buildings and tucked between switchbacks and steep inclines.

"Hopefully. I'd prefer to find a garage, or someplace open enough for us to get a fire going. It's going to get real cold."

Silverado nodded.

"Wait." Hardy spoke up. "How far behind is this gonna put us?"

Justin looked out across the valley, then up at the sky, calculating the time. "At best a couple hours. Depends on how long the storm lasts, sometimes they go for a couple days."

"Days?"

Justin fixed him with a hard stare. "Yeah, days. Got a problem with that?"

Hardy's fists clenched. "Obviously." He turned to Silverado, then pointed out at the skyscrapers puncturing the horizon. "Lets just fucking go. We got a clear shot, we don't need this Scav anymore."

"If you wanna die in a radioactive rainstorm, be my guest." Justin muttered.

"We're gonna do what he says, Hardy. He knows the area better than us." Silverado said. Hardy looked for a moment like he might start swinging, but he took in a few deep breaths and the tension eased from his shoulders.

"Fine." He said through gritted teeth, though he wasn't looking at Silverado. His eyes were on Justin, and they were bright with hatred.

They picked their way down the slopes, sticking to roads where they could. Justin had them move slowly and as quietly as possible - they weren't quite in the area he knew was swarming with feral ghouls, but the way things had been going, he wouldn't be surprised if they ran into the one pack that had made its way this far west. They checked the buildings they passed looking for a good spot to hunker down, but the first few had almost no roofs left to speak of. Justin theorized that the buildings further up in the foothills had suffered more damage from the initial bombs dropping, though he had very little evidence to go off of. No one was quite sure where the impacts had actually been - there was no telling what existed in the thick pockets of Choke. Rumor had it warheads could be found all over, and once every few years some raider boss or other claimed to have an undetonated nuke, though nothing ever came of it.

Finally after about an hour of looking, right when the sky was beginning to really darken and Justin was getting nervous, they came upon a low, flat building with two large garage doors in front. An old mechanic shop, it looked like.

"Perfect." Justin said, observing it's crumbling brick facade. He grabbed one of the bent garage doors and tried to haul it upward. The metal groaned but didn't budge. He tried the other one, and found it had a bit more give, enough to provide room for someone to slip underneath.

"Hey - someone take a peek, make sure we're not walking into a deathtrap." Justin said, holding the door up.

"I'll go." Matt offered, pulling out his gun. Hardy shot out a hand, putting it on his brother's shoulder.

"Not alone you won't." Hardy said.

"I don't care who the fuck goes, this thing ain't light." Justin muttered, readjusting his grip on the metal.

Hardy and Matt both squeezed under the door. Justin held his breath, listening to the sounds of them rummaging about on the other side.

"Looks alright!" Matt called. "Lots of junk in here, we should be able to clear a spot to- shit!" His voice cut off, and Justin heard the zip-crack of laser pistol fire. Between the shots he heard loud buzzing.

"Fuck! Damn bloatfly nest!" Hardy yelled, punctuating his words with laser fire. "Fuck-! You-! Fucking-! Bugs-!"

The wet spittle spray of bloatfly salvos interrupted the gunfire, followed by the splat of larvae colliding. Matt screamed.

"Ah! God! It got me in the face!" The laser fire sped up, and then abruptly stopped.

Justin hoisted at the door again, trying desperately to open it further. Gus, Silverado and Bethany moved in to assist, and slowly they began inching it upward, the metal screeching. On the other side of the door, it had gone quiet.

The garage door screamed it's way open. On the other side, Matt was sitting on an overturned shelf, his hands at his face. Blood dripped through his fingers. Hardy was close by, hand on his shoulder and talking to him. Dead bloatflies littered the floor, and in the far corner next to the inside door sat a filthy, fleshy sac covered in burned holes. On closer inspection Justin realized it was a dead mirelurk that must have been absolutely filled with maggots. His stomach turned and he looked away, feeling lightheaded.

"Hey, Matt, you're alright, you're alright." Hardy's voice wavered slightly, but he spoke with a gentleness Justin wouldn't have expected was even possible from him. "I know it hurts but you gotta let me see it."

Matt was breathing in short, pained sobs, and it looked like he was trying to listen to his brother, but couldn't actually get himself to move. Slowly, in fits and jerks, he managed to raise his head away from his hands. The side of his cheek, from under his eye going back into his hairline, was split and ragged. Hardy's face paled when he saw it, but he swallowed and nodded.

"Alright, that's not too bad." He said, and Justin commended him on his lying skills. "Your eye's okay, and it's not stuck in ya. You'll be fine."

Matt let out a little whimper and nodded.

"We're gonna need to clean that, stitch it up."

"Y-yeah." Matt's voice was shaking. He sounded very young.

Justin set down the Supercomputer, grabbing his medical bag from the side. "Hardy-" He caught the man's eye and tossed it. Hardy snatched it from midair, though his expression never changed from that steely glare. Justin wrung his hands, nervously cracking his knuckles.

"I- I also have Med-X, if that would-"

"Get the fuck outta here, Scav!" Hardy snapped.

Justin slunk away. He looked up at Stock, hovering nearby, and sighed.

While the others took care of Matt, Justin busied himself getting their camp set up. He shoved the shelves out through the open garage, clearing floor space. Then he found an overturned metal barrel, rebar spilled out across the floor in front of it. He made a mental note to come back for the rebar later. He cleared out the rest of the barrel and then rolled it close to the door, keeping it under the roof cover. That would work to contain a fire for the night so they didn't all freeze to death when the rain started coming down.

He glanced back at the others, thinking he should tell one of them he was going out to get firewood, but none of them was paying attention. Justin sighed and whistled for Barrel and Stock to follow, then set off.

The sky was a mess of churning black clouds, and as he walked his back screamed it's discomfort at the movement. "Ahh, shit…" Justin breathed as he made his way down the broken street. He looked over at Stock and shook his head. In the distance, thunder crashed, rolling down the mountains. "It's gonna be bad, girl." He muttered. He was not talking about the storm.

Eventually Justin came across another house, this one mostly splintered wood and rusted metal. He grabbed as many pieces of broken wood as he could fit his arm around, and then pointed to the top of the building, where the roof had caved in. What looked like a support beam was laying across the top, the ends splintered. "Stock, fetch." He ordered.

Stock flew up to the beam, and a clamp lowered from her undercarriage. It snapped around the beam and whirred. Slowly, she lifted the beam and brought it down. It was a little bit over what she should carry, but they weren't going far.

The first few drops of rain began to trickle out of the dark sky as Justin returned to the garage. He threw his pile of wood down next to the barrel, and Stock dropped her beam on top. Justin glanced at the others and saw that Matt's face was bandaged, and he was sitting leaned up against the wall. The skin around his eyes was red and raw, and he looked dead tired. Justin couldn't blame the kid.

Everyone pointedly avoided his gaze, except Hardy. Hardy glared at him from the other side of the garage. Justin didn't look at him for long, and instead tried to busy himself getting a fire going. The rain was steady now, the wind picking up and beginning to send gusts through their shelter. The temperature had already dropped, and it was only going to get worse as night set in.

Justin picked up a bit of splintered wood and braced it against the concrete, stepping onto it with his armor frame until it snapped in two. He threw the pieces into the barrel and moved on to the next one. He could feel Hardy's eyes on the back of his head as he worked. He tried to ignore it, just as he tried to ignore the ever-growing pain in his lower back. The gusto with which he broke each wood beam escalated, his teeth grinding together. Finally he threw the last pieces into the barrel and turned, mouth already open to say something - what exactly, he didn't know, but he wasn't going to spend the rest of the night being silently glared at.

Hardy was already behind him. Justin took a startled step backward, but Hardy grabbed the front of his shirt. Justin was small enough that Hardy could have easily lifted him up, but the armor frame on his legs made that nigh impossible. Justin tried his best to shrink away regardless. The look in Hardy's eyes was wild.

"I should kill you and be done with it." Hardy snarled.

The others were watching now. Bethany had an excited, hungry expression, while Gus shifted anxiously on his feet. Matt sat up off the wall, watching his brother.

"Hardy, don't-" He started, but Hardy cut him off.

"Shut up Matt, this freak got Jacob killed, and almost the rest of us along with him!"

Justin locked eyes with Silverado for a moment, silently pleading for her to do something. Instead she watched Hardy with vague caution, but continued cleaning her gun and remained silent.

"I bet you led us into those other raiders on purpose, huh, trying to get rid of us?" Hardy demanded.

Justin shook his head. "I didn't, I swear, I didn't know they were there-"

"Just like you didn't know about that deathclaw? Or the fucking bug nest?"

"How could I have-"

"You said it yourself; 'no one knows the area better than you!'" His lip curled. "You're a pretty good fucking liar, but I'm goddamn tired of being lied to." He drew his laser pistol and Justin heard the sound of the barrel getting jammed into one of the holes in the power armor frame.

That got Silverado's attention. "Hardy-" She said, her voice carrying the hint of a warning.

"Hardy, stop it!" Matt said.

The laser gun zip-crackled, and Justin flinched. There was no pain, but there wouldn't be either way. Hardy stared at him, watching his face. "I fuckin' knew it. You can't tell if I shot you or not." He spat. "We been bein' led around by a fuckin' cripple."

Justin glared back at him. "Call me a cripple again and I'll let the next deathclaw eat you too."

Hardy shook his head, looking at him as if he hadn't quite seen him properly until now. "You're the fucking Devil is what you are."

"Hardy!" Silverado stood, her hands in fists.

Hardy glared at Justin for another moment, and then released his shirt, shoving him back roughly. He turned to look at Silverado, who pointed at the small door beside her.

"Outside, now." She snapped.

"What, you gonna put me in time-out, mom?" Hardy sneered.

"I'll fuckin put a bullet in your mouth, talk to me like that again."

Hardy stomped away, towards the door. Justin stood there, breathing quickly and fighting the urge to look down at himself. Checking to see if he'd actually gotten shot would be admitting that Hardy was right, and he refused to give him the satisfaction. He clenched his fists.

He was not a cripple. Cripples were useless, sad things that needed to be taken care of. He was fine. He didn't need anyone's help. He certainly didn't need anyone's pity - though he doubted he'd find any in his present company. If anything, they'd just think of him as an even easier target. His shoulders tensed. They could try.

Over the rain, Justin heard the sound of Hardy and Silverado arguing, though he couldn't make out the words. Not that he wanted to hear it. He'd heard everything either of them could say a thousand times over. Through the little doorway he saw Silverado standing, her hands on her hips. Hardy was pacing back and forth, kicking at rocks and debris in his path. He caught sight of Justin watching and his shoulders hunched. He slammed his boot into the corner of an overturned shelf, sending some old car parts tumbling over the edge.

The room exploded. Shrapnel flew, embedding itself into the walls. Metal and debris shot through the small doorway, ripping gouges in the concrete and shredding the wooden doorframe. Justin stumbled back, throwing his arms over his head as the building shuddered around them. In the short, quick moments afterward, he looked up, watching dust swirl through the air and listening to the sounds of settling. Then Matt screamed.

"HARDY!" He bolted toward the remains of the door, now a ragged hole in the wall. Justin sprang and grabbed the back of his collar, planting his feet. Matt tried to fight him off, tears welling in his eyes. "No! Let me go! Hardy!"

"Kid- kid! You can't!" Justin struggled to keep a grip on him, until Bethany showed up to assist. She planted a hand on Matt's other shoulder, and together they were able to keep him in place.

"Matt, listen, he's right. You can't go in there, there might be more."

Justin knew if there had been, the explosion would have most likely set them off. He was more worried about the building's structural integrity, but he wasn't about to argue with her. On top of that, she had come to the same cold realization he had. Hardy and Silverado were gone, and all Matt would accomplish by sorting through the mess was just making it worse. Justin knew that all too well.

Matt kept fighting. Tears were flowing freely down his face now, and he stared at Bethany. "Let me go! Please I- I have to- He might-"

Bethany shook her head. "Matt, he's gone." Her voice was quiet. "You know he is."

"I-" His throat tightened, choking out his words. He shook his head, but the defiance on his face was breaking. "Don't say that! You don't know!" His anger was a desperate thing, holding on by a thread. He tried to swing at her, but Justin caught his arm, holding him back. Matt turned on him.

"Fuck you, Scavver! This is your fucking fault!"

Justin didn't respond. Matt wrenched himself back, and Justin let him go, keeping himself between Matt and the rubble. Bethany moved next to him, blocking the path as well. Matt glared at them, his eyes bright and wild. Outside, thunder cracked and the rain became torrential. Justin could see steam in the air from each of Matt's rough exhales. His skin was pale against the dark cloth bandaging his face.

"Matt…" Justin spoke cautiously. "We can't fight right now."

Matt's shoulders tensed, and for a moment it looked like he was going to start screaming. Then the anger broke. He took in a few sharp breaths, wrapping his arms around himself. He stared at the shattered doorway behind them. His face was blank with shock and hopelessness. He looked more than exhausted - he looked defeated.

Without another word Matt turned away. He tottered over to the shelf he'd been using as a chair earlier and sat down, staring into space. Justin's heart went out to the kid. He was young - too young to be caught up in any of this shit, but the world was unkind.

Justin let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding and let the tenseness leave his shoulders. He slouched, exhaustion and pain creeping back into his bones, and his eyes dropped to the concrete below. A scorched laser pistol was lying next to the wall beside him. He wondered if it had been Hardy's, or if it had been lying there for decades while the building rotted around it. His scavver's instincts told him to pick it up. Instead he looked away.

In the silence, Justin busied himself with the fire. The temperature had plummeted, and his hands shook as he set the flint and tinder. He looked out into the darkness, and the rain coming down in sheets. Normally he would worry about the light from the fire attracting unwanted attention, but not even sabirs came out when the weather was this bad. The only threat to them tonight was going to be the cold. Pain lanced through his back and he flinched, letting out a small groan. He put a hand on the wall to brace himself, gritting his teeth and breathing heavily. "It's alright… 's alright, it'll pass, it always does…" He told himself. If he'd learned one thing in his 28 years, it was that everything always passed.

The night dragged on. Justin set up near the garage door, pulling a small table into the firelight. He set Lock on it and opened up her chassis, trying to find what all had broken when she'd fallen earlier. He tried to work quietly as both Gus and Bethany bedded down for the night. Matt never moved, and eventually Justin glanced up to find only himself and the kid awake. Justin paused his work, watching Matt across the fire. In the flickering orange glow his eyes looked like hollows in his skull. Justin sighed and put his tools down.

"Kid… you should get some sleep." He said.

Matt blinked and swallowed, but remained silent.

Justin looked away, chewing on his lip. He tried to tell himself he shouldn't get involved, that he was the last person Matt wanted to talk to right now. But he recognized that look on the kid's face, and no one else was going to step up. He had to at least try. He leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs, and stared into the fire.

"My brother… was 21 when he died." Justin began, quietly. "It wasn't anyone's fault, just a- a freak accident. I remember… thinking that there was no point in trying to go on, after that. Everyone that I cared about, that cared about me, was just… gone. Just like that. Out of the blue." He let out a small, humorless laugh, shaking his head and staring down at his hands in his lap. "I thought, surely there had been some mistake, that I'd lived and he-" His throat got tight and he had to stop for a moment, regaining control of his voice. "He was so much better than me. He was kind, he was strong, god he was so clever, and I was just… a fuck up. Baggage he carted around because he was too nice to tell me to get lost. Even though he should have."

Justin glanced up. Matt hadn't moved, but he could tell that the kid was listening. The bandages on his face shrouded his expression. Justin shook his head, looking out at the rain.

"I can't tell you it gets easier, kid. It doesn't, not really. Even now… almost four years later, sometimes it just hits me. I'll remember some… fucking stupid thing he said once, or some scheme he had… I'll go back home and see the girl he liked, and wonder if he'd have asked her to marry him by now… I wonder if they'd be happy." A sad smile came over his face. "It never really goes away. But I can tell you it gets bearable. It just becomes another weight you carry. And you do it because you know that's what they'd want."

"You didn't know him." Matt's voice was quiet, the slightest hint of defiance, dregs of anger.

"No, I didn't. But I know what it's like to be a big brother. And I know what it's like to lose family. It hurts. It hurts more than you thought possible. But it ain't the end. You shoulder it, and you keep moving."

"How?" Matt's voice was a whisper, barely audible over the crackling of the fire and the pouring rain.

Justin sighed, shaking his head. He stared into the fire, his eyes distant. "You just keep putting one foot in front of the other. And eventually, you find yourself somewhere new."

They fell silent after that. In the distance, thunder rolled again, shaking the building around them. The rain continued to pour in sheets of black that their firelight couldn't penetrate. It made the night seem claustrophobic, as if the world beyond their little garage ceased to exist. Justin wasn't sure what the morning was going to bring. Silverado was gone, and whatever semblance of leadership they'd had died with her. He didn't care what Bethany or Gus did, but he knew the frightened kid across the fire from him didn't belong at Columbia.

"What was his name?" Matt asked. For the first time in hours he looked up. In the dim firelight his eyes were shiny and tired.

Justin smiled sadly, looking down at his hands. "Caleb."

"How did he die?"

Justin stopped smiling. His back ached. "A landslide." He said. "Out in the mountains."

"Is that what…" Matt swallowed nervously, and his eyes flicked to the power armor frame for a small moment. "...happened to your legs?"

Justin put a hand on the cold metal encasing his legs. "Yeah."

"Oh." Matt looked away.

That was the end of the conversation. They fell into silence, crackling fire and steady rain the only things breaking the stillness. Eventually Matt fell asleep, leaned up against the shelf, leaving Justin alone with his thoughts. He got up and threw more wood into the fire, looking out through the sheets of rain. He'd probably have tried to leave, if not for the storm. Cut east, go back toward home. Or at least, the closest thing to home that existed. The Followers were never happy to see him, though they tried their best not to show it. He'd always been the inconvenience, the one who brought trouble with him wherever he went. They tolerated him, sure. That's the most anyone ever did. No one wanted the Black Cat around. Everyone that had ever loved him was dead and gone.

Justin returned to his work table. Lock was laying on it, parts strewn about. He needed to use this time to work on getting her back up. He didn't want to walk into Seatac proper without his scout, and this was going to be the only rest time they had. The thunder from the storm was fading, the time between flashes of lightning lengthening as the night went on. It wasn't going to last much longer. Come sunrise they would be able to move again.

He didn't know how long he sat there staring at the table before a peal of thunder brought him back to the present. He wiped a hand over his face and yawned. "Nope… no work tonight…" He muttered. "You're busted enough as it is… don't need my tired ass making it worse." He scooped up the loose parts and deposited them into one of his tech bags, slinging it up onto the Supercomputer. He clipped Lock's chassis into place, resigned to carrying her the rest of the way. Stock beeped, and Justin shot her a glare.

"No, I'm not going to carry you too. She's in trouble, this is not a good thing."

Stock beeped again. Next to her, Barrel was partially through a slow spin, his laser rifle pointed awkwardly at the ceiling. Justin sighed.

"And to think, I was disappointed about not having kids. What a fool I was." He shook his head and pulled out his bedroll. He slung it open and dust flew, making him cough. He tried to brush as much dirt off it as he could, wondering how the hell it had managed to get this dirty in one day. After all this he might just head home regardless, if only for a bath and to sleep in a real bed for a change.

He undid the clamps on his power armor frame and pulled himself out, going slowly as the muscles in his back tightened and twitched. He let out some small groans and sharp breaths, easing himself over onto the bedroll, which was only marginally more comfortable than the concrete below it. He lied there, gritting his teeth and waiting for the pain to pass. One of his legs was twitching, not of his own volition. That was something people never really understood about paralysis - it wasn't always a clean, neat cut off. He couldn't move his legs, but at odd times and brief moments, he could almost feel them. The nerves where his back had broken were severed in some places, pinched in others, entirely a mess. Most days were okay. He'd refused to give up and become an infirm, and he'd been smart enough to find a way to exist in the wasteland - not just exist, but to live, and to accomplish things no one thought were possible for someone like him.

Other days, when the weather got bad and cold crept into his bones, those old wounds would reignite and turn his insides to fire.

Justin rubbed his leg that was shaking. It was thin and bony. He sighed, opening his eyes and staring up at the crumbling ceiling. "Just one day." He said, and his breath hitched in pain. "Just one more day, I don't think that's too much to ask."

His last realization before drifting into uneasy sleep was that Hardy hadn't actually shot him. The thought was oddly comforting.


	7. Part 7

Blinding pain ripped Justin back to consciousness. He gasped and half-choked on a scream as a white-hot knife blade seared slowly up his spine. He knew that wasn't what was actually happening, but that didn't make it hurt any less. Sweat broke out across his forehead and he could feel the muscles in his back spasming. "S- St-" His throat worked, but it was hard to focus, let alone make coherent noises. His hands curled into fists, and he felt his nails scrape across the concrete.

"Hey, are you-" Justin heard movement close by, and he opened his eyes. Matt was kneeling next to him, concern and not a small amount of fear on his face. "Scav, you alright?"

For a tiny moment the fact that he couldn't say anything sarcastic hurt almost as much as his back. Justin took in a few rough breaths, trying and failing to stifle the pained noises that kept escaping with each exhale. "Back." He choked out, trying to give the kid at least some explanation. "Th- w-weather."

Matt glanced over at the power armor frame lying close by, then back at Justin. "Jesus Christ, you look like you're fuckin' dying, man." He said. "What do we do?"

"Stock-" Justin turned his head, trying to see where she was hovering. He tried to whistle, but his breaths wouldn't calm enough to do it. Matt followed his gaze.

"You need the eyebot?"

"Y-yeah."

Matt stood, going and grabbing Stock and pulling her over. She beeped pleasantly.

"Compartment. On t-top." Justin gasped.

Matt fumbled with the latch and it popped open. Something changed on his face when he looked at the contents. "Damn. I didn't know you had Med-X."

"Med-X?" Gus seemed to materialize from nowhere, peeking over Matt's shoulder into Stock's compartment. "Damn Scav, you been holding out!"

"Get off." Matt elbowed Gus away. He pulled a syringe out and released Stock, who floated off, beeping happily.

Justin reached up to take the syringe from Matt, and moved too far. Needles stabbed into his back and ripped, tearing his spine apart bone by bone. He cried out, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, trying his best to ride out the pain. It would only last a short while, he told himself. It would pass, everything always passed…

And then, it did. Not only that, the pain melted away altogether, and his fear and anxiety went with it. He opened his eyes, and the world had a strange otherness to it, like it wasn't quite real. Matt was kneeling next to him again, and the syringe in his hand was empty.

"Sorry. I panicked." He said. His voice echoed strangely. "You alright?"

Justin's eyes wandered as the world grew too blurry to actually pay attention to. Somewhere in the back of his head a little voice was panicking, but the much louder voice was entirely at ease. This was alright. This was fine. This was fucking great.

"Don't bother, he's high as fuck." Gus said. There was a slight pause, and then he spoke again. He sounded less relaxed this time. "Um… how much of that did you give him?"

"...All of it?"

"Oh. Uh." Gus swallowed. "That was probably too much."

"What? I thought you were supposed to use the whole thing!"

"Who the fuck you basing that off of?"

"You, idiot!"

"Real bad idea. Hey, Scav-" Justin felt his shoulder get shaken, and he opened his eyes. Gus and Matt's faces swam overhead, the colors bleeding into each other, swirling and expanding. "Scav, hey, you with us? How much of this shit do you take?"

Justin tried to watch the colors. The shapes they made were so interesting. His eyelids grew too heavy and he closed them. Gus shook his shoulder again, and then pulled back.

"Well… Congratulations, kid. You killed your first scavver. Ain't a bad way to go though, considering."

"What? No, I didn't- We gotta do something!"

"Yeah," Bethany's voice joined the conversation. "Ask him where he hid the rest of the good shit before he croaks."

Somewhere Justin felt like he should have been insulted, but he was finding it hard to care about what was being said. Their voices drifted in and out. Who were they talking about?

"...Hey, hey, you might not have killed him. He'll come to in a couple hours feeling like shit, but he probably won't die. Beth's got a point though. Grab the rest of the Med-X from that eyebot, I'll go through his bags."

"Wait, what?"

"Grab his shit. We've got a straight shot to Columbia from here, let's book it."

"And just leave him?"

"Uh, yeah. What the fuck else are we gonna do? Carry his ass? Look at him, he ain't walking."

"No, no, we're not just leaving him here."

Bethany's voice grew cold. "So now you're in charge all of a sudden?"

"Sorry, correction; I don't give a fuck what you do. I'm not leaving him here. Walk to Columbia alone if you want to." There was a long, tense silence. Then Bethany spoke again, her voice shaking, forcibly calm.

"What do you have, Gus?"

"What do I have?"

"What're you holding, Gus! You've always got some shit. Psycho, Jet, what?"

"Um… both? And some Buffout. Why?"

"Think if you gave him some Jet he'd get back on his feet?"

"I… fuck, maybe?"

"Well, there ya go. Give it a shot. And if it doesn't work… If it doesn't work, I'm out. Not wasting any more time on him, or you and your fuckin' bleeding hearts." She stomped away.

"...Do you think it'll work?" Matt asked quietly.

"Fuck man I ain't a doctor. Let's find out. Gimmie a sec." Gus walked off, leaving Matt alone with Justin. The kid sighed, putting his face in his hands. He winced as his fingers brushed the bandages on his cheek.

"God, this is so fucked." He muttered.

Gus returned. "Alright, let's give this a shot. Prop him up."

Justin felt himself get hauled up into a sitting position. His body felt numb and he remained limp, his head lolling. Someone grabbed him under the chin and faced him forward. His eyelids fluttered as for a moment he tried to look at who had him, but the world was still spinning and very far away. Something hard that tasted like plastic and chemicals was shoved between his teeth.

"Alright hold on tight kid. I've seen this stuff really mess fuckers up."

Something pinched his nose shut. Justin tried to breathe through it for a second, and then inhaled through his mouth, around the plastic. He heard a sharp puff of air.

Sensation hit him like a truck. He coughed and gasped as his lungs filled with heat, pins and needles, a thousand buzzing insects. Electricity coursed through him, hitting his sluggish thoughts and jolting his brain awake into a sickening swirl of energetic confusion. His eyes rolled up and he could feel his body shaking out of his control. Someone was making strange choked whimpering noises. He was pretty sure it was himself.

"Easy Scav, ride it out. Don't fuckin' die on us now."

Justin's heart hammered erratically. His ears were ringing, but he could hear the blood pumping through his veins, the choked and raspy whoosh of air rattling in and out of his lungs as they heaved. Half-formed thoughts screamed in his head, as loud as they were inconsistent and fragile. He was simultaneously numb to and intimately aware of every facet of the universe around him. Light and colors exploded in his vision, and he was sure there was something in them. Some clue, some hidden answer that would make everything else make sense. On some level he knew he had to be dying, yet he'd never felt more alive. It was maddening.

And then the lights and sounds all crumpled in on each other. He plummeted, and with a jarring sensation of vertigo he found himself back in his body. He was exhausted and covered in sweat. He was also not breathing. That was a problem, wasn't it? He gasped for air, and both Matt and Gus swore.

"Jesus Christ, I thought he was dead."

Matt, still keeping him propped up with an arm around his back, snapped in front of his face. "Hey, Scav, you with us?"

Justin blinked and fought to focus his vision. "I…" He coughed, his voice raspy. "I don'..." He shuddered and closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. "What- what the f-fuck…"

It wasn't quite what he'd meant to say, but it got the point across just fine.

"Man, that was one of the hardest trips I've ever seen." Gus said. "Remind me never to mix my uppers and downers again."

"Scav, we've gotta go. You gotta get up." Matt said. "Think you can walk?"

In response Justin just started laughing weakly. "Yeah. Sure. I can w… walk, no problem."

"Great, you look like shit, but the sarcasm is still going strong. You're gonna be fine. Gus," Matt nodded toward the power armor frame. "Help me get him up."

Together they hauled him to the frame. Justin did the best he could, but it still took him a couple tries to get his legs into it properly. He fumbled with the latches, his hands shaking. Finally he was all set, and with a whir of mechanics and metal, he climbed to his feet. He stared at the two of them, pale and shaking.

"Where we… where we going?" He asked.

"Columbia, Scav. Come on." Gus answered loudly.

Justin scoffed, looking unimpressed. "Hah, alright." He tottered over to the Supercomputer, hoisting it up. Barrel and Stock fell into their normal positions flanking him, and he reached out, trying and missing a couple times to grab Stock. Finally he managed it, and he pulled her close, tapping his knuckles on her lens.

"Whose a good girl?" He cooed. She beeped, and he giggled, letting her go. "That's right, you are!" She flew in a circle around him while he grinned stupidly.

"Eugh. Come on, lets go! I wanna get to Columbia sometime today, please!" Bethany called, glaring back at the three of them.

"Careful what you wish for." Justin called back in a singsong voice. He turned to Matt and leaned in conspiratorially. "I don't think you should go to Columbia," He said in what was clearly intended to be a whisper, but was far too loud to actually be sneaky whatsoever. "It's a shithole and everyone there is mean. She-" He pointed at Bethany with a wavering hand. "She'd fit right in. You- I like you. I think you could do better. Gus-" He paused, his eyes wandering around until they finally found the skinny redhead, who was walking alongside them looking very entertained. "Gus… you're alright. I like this shit you gave me."

Gus grinned. "You say that now Scav, give it an hour."


	8. Part 8

About forty-five minutes later Justin stumbled off the path. He slapped at the release for the Supercomputer, which fell behind him with a loud, echoing 'thud'. He staggered a few feet, dropped to his knees, and vomited.

Gus checked his watch. "Yeah, that seems about right."

Justin groaned and shuddered, his head hanging. His hair was damp with sweat and he was shaking. "Oh my god…" He gasped, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "What the fuck… What the fuck did you guys give me?" For the first time that day he sounded sober.

"Jet." Gus said cheerily, crouching down next to him. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Right after Matt gave you too much Med-X. Never seen anyone so fucking high in my life. You're one tough cookie, you know that Scav? I was pretty sure you were gonna die."

"Still feel like… I might die." Justin groaned.

"Yeah you're prolly dehydrated to shit. Got any water?"

Justin nodded. "On the… computer." He said. "Black bag… left side."

Gus dug through the bags until he found a dirty plastic bottle filled with only slightly less dirty water. He came back and knelt next to Justin again. "Alright close your eyes and count to ten. If you don't think you're gonna throw up again after that, you're probably good."

Justin closed his eyes and hunched down, counting under his breath. After the time had elapsed, he reached out and took the water from Gus. It was gritty and had a chemical aftertaste, but he gulped down the whole thing anyway. It made his stomach churn, and he grimaced, fighting against the nausea. Eventually it passed and he was left breathing heavily, exhausted, but all things considered, alright.

"Think you're gonna make it?" Gus asked.

Justin sighed and nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright, sweet. Come take a look at where we are. Been following your directions, mostly, but…"

Justin looked around. They were on a road, flanked by low buildings on either side, dead husks of trees and snarled vines darkening shattered windows and doorways. They had to be close to the city proper by now, but he didn't recognize this particular spot. "Oh Jesus. I don't remember getting us here at all."

"Yeah, figured not. We okay?"

Justin got back to his feet. He had a dim recollection of pointing them north a few streets back (at least he thought). He walked to the middle of the road, turning around and looking up at the buildings. He could see tall skyscrapers further inland, so they were at least going in the right direction, but how far east or west they were was a bit more challenging to figure out. Finally he caught sight of a sign, half hidden behind some low fog. It had once been pink, but the neon hadn't worked in decades and was now a sort of dull, reddish brown. It was still very obviously an elephant. He snapped and pointed at it.

"Aha. I know where we are." He put his hands on his hips and looked around, then up at the sky. "Good job, me."

"Well where to now?"

Justin rubbed his chin. He knew where they were, but it was significantly further east than his initial plan had been. Columbia was only a little ways north of their current location, but if they continued much further on this route they were going to run into one of the areas where the Choke was particularly heavy, effectively blocking their path. "Why didn't we turn west back a ways?" He muttered aloud, trying to piece together what his plan must have been. He closed his eyes, trying to picture a map of the city, populating it with the little pockets of civilization he knew still existed.

"Oh. You clever bastard." He opened his eyes and pointed to a side street. "We're heading that way."

He returned to where he'd dropped the Supercomputer, hoisting it up once again.

"How much longer, Scav?" Bethany asked.

"Only a few hours, then you'll be rid of me."

She scoffed. "Fantastic. Can't fuckin' wait."

They continued walking. Justin made sure Barrel and Stock's patrols remained close by, and kept an eye on the dark windows they passed. They were closer to the Choke than he liked, just barely on the outside of what he considered the 'safe' zone. Feral ghouls and all other sorts of nasty things liked to lurk in the remnants of the city, and with the buildings this close by, it could be hard to tell something was close until it was far too late. He berated himself for not getting Lock fixed up the night before. "Only a few more hours." He told himself. "A few more hours and you'll be done with this fucking nightmare."

"Hey, Scav."

Justin looked over. Matt was walking close by.

"I uh… wanted to say I'm sorry about… earlier…" Matt said. "I didn't mean to, I... I just panicked, and…" He shook his head and looked away, scratching the back of his neck. "I was really scared I'd accidentally killed you. I'm glad you're okay."

"Well, I ain't gonna lie, it fucking sucked." Justin said. "But I know you were just trying to help. Maybe next time let people do their drugs themselves, huh?"

"I uh… yeah." Matt said. He fell silent for a time, but Justin knew more questions were coming. The kid was young still, and the world hadn't quite extinguished that spark of curiosity. Justin wasn't entirely in the mood for pleasantries (his mouth was horribly dry and gritty still, and he was hungrier than he'd even been in his life), but he'd be damned if he was gonna be the one to kill the kid's fire. Columbia would do it soon enough.

"Does that… happen a lot?" Matt asked, hesitantly.

"Does what happen?"

"This morning, your back."

"Oh." Justin looked down at the street. He shrugged. "Not really. Only when the weather gets bad. That storm that came in kind of rocked my shit."

"And that's because of… the landslide?"

Justin tried to keep the discomfort out of his voice. It had been nearly 4 years, but he still did not like discussing it. "Yes."

"So you…" Matt's eyes went down to the power armor frame. "You really can't move your legs?"

Justin heaved a sigh. "No."

Matt immediately looked away. "Sorry," He said quickly. "I just…"

"Was curious."

"Well, yeah. I mean, where I come from, people like… like that… don't tend to make it very long."

"Don't tend to here, either." Justin said.

After that, Matt seemed to get the message that this was not a great topic of conversation, and he fell silent.

"I'd uh…" Justin began, his voice low, "I'd appreciate you not tellin' folks about that. Especially not at Columbia. I've got a reputation to uphold, and…" He shook his head and let out a small humorless laugh. "Life's hard enough without, well… people knowing."

"Shit, yeah man, I won't tell." Matt said.

"Thanks." Justin muttered. That didn't solve the problem of Bethany or Gus, but it was at least something. He'd have to rely on the hope that neither of them cared enough to talk about him. Hell, maybe they hadn't even noticed. Most people didn't.

"Earlier today, you were talking about Columbia."

Justin glanced over at the kid. "Listen, I wouldn't put a lot of stock in anything I said. I don't remember most of the day, who knows what I was blabbing about. I'm amazed I got us here in one piece."

Matt didn't smile, just adjusted his backpack and kept walking, eyes on the ground. "You said you didn't think I belonged there."

Justin took a few seconds to contemplate his next words. "Well… truth be told, I don't." He admitted. "It's a raider fort, kid. People are always coming in, thinking they can make it big there. All they ever find is blood, people literally climbing over each other trying to reach some fabled top that no one's ever seen." He shook his head. "I dunno about your brother, or how you got wrapped up in all this, but I just… I think you could do a lot better than ending up in a hellhole like that."

"Like what?" Matt asked, his voice heavy with cynicism. "Become a fucking wandering merchant and hope no one shows up to rob me? Join the NCR, or the Brotherhood, and pretend that's somehow better than any other fucking group of people just out for themselves?" He shook his head and kicked at a rock on the ground. "I've been all over, and no matter where it is, everything's always the fucking same."

"Yeah, life sucks." Justin shot back. "So you wanna be one of the ones actively making it suck even more? You know what I've never had to do? Try and sleep knowing I hurt someone who didn't deserve it. I've never had to wonder if the food I'm eating came from someone who's gonna starve to death. I've never fired a bullet at someone who didn't shoot me first."

"Sounds like a good way to get killed."

"Yeah, they've tried. The whole fucking world has tried. It ain't gotten the best of me yet." Justin shook his head and looked away. "So maybe it will one day, who the fuck knows. No one's making it out of here alive anyways. I'm not gonna let that stop me from living on my own terms." He let out an angry sigh. "And you shouldn't either."

They stopped talking after that. Eventually Justin pulled back ahead of their little pack. Slowly they edged back into the area of the city that Justin considered fairly safe - traders came through here often enough, bringing goods from the Port Authority northeast to Bellevue and then on to the smattered communities held by the Council of the City. Justin stopped looking in every single window they passed and instead started making plans for what he was going to do after they parted ways.

"Should probably see where Tanner is." He muttered to himself. "I think a doctor's visit would be a good idea." That meant sending Stock out to find her, but he had some medical supplies he wanted to drop off for her anyways. People tended to be a lot more receptive to his presence when he offered useful stuff up front.

He looked up to check where they were now, and relief spread through his weary bones. On the corner ahead, a building stood at the top of a severe hill. It's roof sagged to the side, and it pulled most of the building with it, creating a strange illusion of the building leaning out over the incline. It looked vaguely horrifying, but its facade sported a large glowing neon sign. 'Hostel Territory' it declared in cheerful blinking letters. Justin had been a semi-regular for nearly ten years now, and while everyone liked to claim the building had been steadily moving closer and closer to the edge, he had checked it himself and found the foundation stable. He didn't go about spreading that information, though. The proprietors enjoyed the fame their locale gave them, and Justin liked seeing the looks on people's faces when they saw the place. He picked up the pace, trying very hard not to break into a full-out run to get to the front door.

"What's that?" Bethany called.

"This-" Justin turned so he was facing them, but kept walking backwards towards the Hostel, "-is, unfortunately, where I leave you."

"Is it now?" She asked. Justin wasn't sure if he imagined the challenge in her tone.

"Yep!" Justin reached the front door, and he stopped walking. He pointed north. The road leading that way was clear, only a few wisps of mist curling about in the low places, tendrils spilling up out of gutters and drains. "You should have a straight shot to Columbia from here. This road leads right up to it. Should only take you about an hour maybe, less if you hustle." He jerked his thumb at the door behind him. "I'm gonna pop in here and take a break, get some food, restock if I can. Still not feeling all that hot from our um… medical adventure this morning. Carlos and Suzie are good folks. Y'all are welcome to join me; if you need any supplies they'll prolly be able to set you up. At a fair price, of course." He added. "Their security doesn't take kindly to dine-and-dashers."

He stood there, hand on the door knob, and watched them. This was it; if they were going to try and take anything from him, now was the time. He could see the calculation in Bethany's eyes as she stared him down. She looked from him to the door, and the brightly lit sign hanging overhead. He could practically see her sizing up the odds.

"Gonna do it?" Justin mumbled. "Gonna rob me in broad daylight on someone's front porch? Won't end well for you."

Matt, meanwhile, was watching him with a different struggle. The kid looked unhappy, scared almost. Doubt played across his face as he looked from Bethany to Justin.

Justin noticed. He stopped paying attention to Bethany and her anger, stopped looking at Gus, who was peering north up the road. He stood in front of the doors and didn't go in, not while the kid looked like that.

"You know," Justin tried one last time, "There's folks around here who are always hiring. Y'all went through hell to get here, I can vouch for that. You're good in a fight. The Port Authority is west of here, and far enough east you'll hit Emporium, where I'm from. Up north, on the locks, the Council of the City of Seattle-that-Was. There's more for you here than Columbia." He nodded, this time locking eyes with Bethany. "You followed me this far. I'd hope you trust my judgement."

Bethany's lip curled. "Fuck yourself, Scavver." She turned away, facing the street north. "Gus, Matt. Come on. Let's get the fuck outta here."

Gus chuckled under his breath. He raised a hand and waved, following Bethany. "It's been nice, Scavver! Ever need more Jet, I'll give you a discount!" He called.

Matt didn't move. Justin stared at him, drumming his fingers on the doorknob.

Finally, hesitantly, Matt took a step toward the Hostel.

Bethany glanced behind her and stopped. "Hey, Matt! The fuck you doing?"

Matt stopped walking. He stared at the ground. "I-" He swallowed hard. "I don't want to… I'm not going to Columbia."

"What did you just say?"

"I'm not going to Columbia." He repeated. He remained where he was, staring at the ground, but his voice was stronger this time.

Bethany looked from him to Justin, and her eyes were bright with rage. She shook her head and glared at Matt. "After everything we've been through, you're just gonna piss off now?" She demanded. "After everyone who fucking died to get us here, after your brother-"

"Don't talk to me about him!" Matt yelled, whirling to face her. "You didn't fucking know him! He was- he was fine until you showed up and filled his head with shit about it being better up here! I never wanted to cross those fucking mountains! I never wanted to go to your fucking promised land! But he did, so I came with. And now-" His voice broke. "Now he's gone. And I don't have to listen to you anymore. I'm not going."

She stared at him in stunned silence for a while. Finally she scoffed, but her eyes never quite hardened like they had before. "What… what are you going to do, then?" She asked. She nodded at Justin. "Go and join the Followers? Be useless? Guard some fucking traders, and get killed in the middle of nowhere over scrap?"

"I don't know. I'll figure it out." He turned away from her and hoisted his backpack. "Goodbye, Beth."

Bethany and Gus stood there and watched him walk to the Hostel. Bethany locked eyes with Justin. Anger and hurt played across her face, and he stared her down, waiting for her to make a move. She held her rifle tightly - he could see her knuckles white on the metal. Gus looked from her to Matt as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"Really, man?" He called, his voice heavy with betrayal.

Matt didn't look back. He reached the door to the Hostel. Justin gave both Gus and Bethany one last look before dropping the Supercomputer just outside the door. Together he and Matt walked inside.

Suzie was standing at the front counter, looking toward the back of the building, wearing a big floppy hat she'd knitted herself. After months of being alone, and three days of constantly watching his back, another familiar human being who he knew for sure wouldn't try to kill him made Justin almost lightheaded with relief.

"Hey, Suze." Justin said. "This is Matt. You would not believe the week I've had."

At the sound of his voice, Suzie turned. Her face was a grotesque mess of skin and tumors. Her breath wheezed, and when she saw them she let out a gargling shriek.

The bottom dropped out of Justin's stomach. Matt drew his gun. Upstairs, feral screams erupted, followed by slamming and scraping of flesh on wood. Suzie ran at the counter and scrambled over it, her mouth wide and gaping. In a flash of panic, Justin realized his gun was outside, still strapped to the Supercomputer.

As Suzie vaulted the counter, Justin dove forward. He caught her on his shoulder and used her momentum to send her into the wall. Matt fired his pistol and her body shuddered with the impact of bullets, but she didn't stop moving. "OUT, NOW!" Justin screamed, backing toward the door. His eyes went to the stairs at the back of the room. Dust was quaking off the ceiling, the pounding and screeching growing louder.

Another feral burst through the door to their left. It dived at them, slamming into Matt's back and sending him tumbling forward. Justin reached to try and pull him up, but two more thudded down the stairs and he had to lurch backward to avoid them. They descended on him, snarling teeth and slashing limbs, and he screamed, punching and kicking. The armor frame caught one around the middle, and he lunged forward, pressing his weight onto it and eliciting a series of horrible cracks and snaps. It gurgled and writhed. The other one climbed up onto him, grabbing his hair and trying to sink it's rotted teeth into his neck. He twisted and wrenched it off of himself, feeling it's nails rip into his clothes. It slammed into the counter.

The one pinned under his leg thrashed and snarled. Justin stomped, grimacing at the sound it made, and it stopped moving. Gunfire erupted, and the ghoul he'd thrown into the counter jerked out, brains splattering. Justin grabbed the back of Matt's collar, hauling him to his feet. Matt kept firing, putting bullets through another one's head as it skittered out from the far room. The feral ghoul that had once been Suzie leapt, her bony fingers grabbing Matt around the shoulders and yanking him forward. His jacket slipped out of Justin' grip.

Justin screamed as Suzie, sweet Suzie who always gave him extra food because 'he was too damn skinny' and knitted weird backpacks from brahmin hair, closed her teeth around Matt's neck and ripped his throat out.

By the time Matt realized what had happened, he couldn't even scream. Blood cascaded down his front and he let out a small sort of shocked gurgle, eyes wide and glassy. The gun tumbled from his hand and clattered to the floor. He collapsed, and Suzie clawed and ripped and bit at him.

Justin's vision went red. He dove forward, tackling Suzie around the middle and ripping her away from Matt. They slammed into the counter, a tangle of limbs and metal. Suzie shrieked and flailed, twisting in his grip. She grabbed onto his hair and slammed his face into the floor. A discarded Nuka-Cola bottle had shattered there, and Justin screamed as the shards of glass dug into his chin. She broke free of his grip, but he lashed out, catching her ankle enough to make her stumble. He pushed himself up off the floor, ignoring the glass that bit into his hands, and kicked her in the side. The metal connected, and bone snapped. She sprawled on the floor, still rasping and clawing, but her back didn't look right, and her legs didn't move.

Justin stared, chin dripping blood, breathing heavily. His ears rang and his heart hammered in his chest. "Oh, god." He choked, his stomach turning. "Oh god oh god-"

Her hands scrabbled at the floor and she dragged herself forward, nothing but animalistic hunger in her sunken eyes. It snapped Justin out of his horrified shock, and he grabbed for the gun Matt had dropped. He aimed, and his hands shook. He knew he didn't have time for sentiment.

"Sorry," He said, and fired. Her head snapped back, and she finally stopped moving.

Justin grabbed Matt and hauled him up, hefting him over his shoulder. He knew the kid was already dead, but Justin would be damned to leave him here to get torn apart by feral ghouls. He felt the back of his shirt grow warm and damp with blood.

He slammed out of the front door. His eyes swept the street, and he had only enough time to realize there were bodies out here now too, malformed things in ragged clothes. More ferals. Then a voice boomed.

"YOU!"

Justin's eyes snapped up, and he tripped on a body he hadn't seen. He stumbled and fell to his knees, and Matt slipped from his shoulder, sprawled on the concrete in front of him.

Gus was standing further down the street, pointing a familiar-looking rifle at him. His face was spattered with blood and his eyes were wild. He glanced, briefly, to Matt's body. The rifle in his hands shook and he let out a pained scream. "You-! You killed them all!" He howled, tears rolling down his face, streaking the blood already there.

"Gus-"

The raider came forward, and Justin stayed where he was, his eyes on the rifle pointed at him. Barrel, hovering by the Supercomputer, beeped, his lights turning red, and came forward. Justin opened his mouth to tell the eyebot to stand down, but Gus raised the rifle and blew Barrel into pieces. Justin flinched, but somehow managed to bite his tongue before something stupid came out of his mouth. It was amazing what staring down a rifle did for your self-control.

"You- You fucking freak!" Gus screamed. He came to a stop in front of Justin, sidestepping Matt's body. He looked down at the kid, and he was close enough now that Justin could see the tears in his eyes. He took in a sharp breath and fixed his attention on Justin again. The pain on his face was overtaken by rage, and he stepped forward, shoving the rifle barrel under Justin's chin.

"They're all dead now, and it's all your fucking fault." He snarled, his voice shaking. His finger was on the trigger of the gun, and Justin could hear it rattling.

Justin glanced back to where Gus had been standing. A body lay close by, and even from this distance Justin knew who it was. Well, at least she'd gone down fighting. It seemed right, if nothing else. Justin swallowed and felt his adam's apple scrape along the gun barrel. The look in Gus' eyes was not a sane one. Justin couldn't blame him. He remembered very well how it felt to lose everyone. It made you insane, for a while. If you were lucky, you got better. He took in a shallow breath, trying not to move too much. "Gus…"

"Shut up!" Gus roared. He jabbed the barrel into Justin's throat, making him choke. "Just shut the fuck up! I don't give a shit what you have to say." He looked up, and then nodded behind Justin. "Call your robot over." He ordered.

Justin chanced a glance behind him. Stock was orbiting the Supercomputer, beeping pleasantly like she always did. Justin looked back up at Gus.

"...Why?" He asked.

"Did I fucking stutter!?" Gus demanded. "Fucking do it!"

Justin looked at the rifle, and for a moment anger flared in his chest. He wanted to tell Gus to go fuck himself. Justin looked back to Stock. He swallowed and then tried to whistle. He couldn't, his mouth was too dry, his heart pounding too hard. "S-Stock." He called. She turned, beeped, and flew towards them.

Gus shot his hand out and caught her by one of her antennae.

"Please don't hurt her." Justin said. Gus looked back at him and his lip curled.

"Everything went to hell once you came along." He snarled.

Justin had no response to that. It was true - truer than Gus knew. He wanted to apologize. He wanted to say he'd warned them how things always went when people got involved in his business. Or, maybe when he got involved in theirs was a more accurate description. He should have known better. But he had been lonely out there in the wilderness. He'd selfishly decided things would work out, even though that had never once in his life happened. He looked at the rifle, then back up at Gus. "If you're gonna do it, then do it." He said.

Gus stared at him, and Justin realized there was something else alongside the rage and pain in his eyes. There was fear. Gus stood with the rifle, ready to blow his brains out all over the street, but he hesitated. "Hardy was right." He said in a shaking voice. "You are the Devil."

"Gus, I'm so fucking sorry." Justin tried. If nothing else, he had to at least try. "I didn't want any of this to happen."

Gus lowered the gun, slightly. He nodded. The fear was still bright in his eyes. "I believe you." He said. Then he flipped the rifle in his hands and smashed the stock into Justin's face.

The world went dark.

* * *

When Justin awoke, it was to find himself alone, surrounded by corpses. Every inch of himself that he could feel hurt, and his mouth tasted like copper, dirt, and bile. He groaned and pushed himself off the blood-sticky cement. His arms shook and his vision spun. Slowly he managed to fight himself up onto his knees, and he blinked, looking around. Lying just in front of him was a body, on it's side as if it had been thrown there, which was almost accurate. The blood on the pavement was from it, and with a twist in his gut Justin realized his clothes were soaked. He wrung his hands.

"Ah, god… fuck kid, I'm sorry." He muttered. The body in front of him didn't move, not that he expected it to. Justin had carried him from the Hostel in an act of defiance, not of hope.

Scattered about on the street were more bodies, lumpy and grotesque. Feral ghouls, the remnants of the tiny group who once lived here. Justin had seen them all, not two months ago, when he made his usual stop at the Hostel on his way south. He'd chatted with them, exchanged stories and information, bought supplies. They'd all been fine. He looked around the street and a shocked, horrified sob worked its way out of his chest.

"What… the fuck happened?" He asked no one.

Behind him, he heard soft beeping. He turned and saw Stock puttering around the Supercomputer. She was listing to the right, the metal casings that covered her storage chambers bent and ripped open.

"Stock." Justin called.

She flew to him. He reached out a hand, putting it on the cold metal, and he smiled. "You're alright." He said. He tilted her to look inside, unsurprised to find her chassis empty. He sighed and released her, and she started circling him, beeping quietly.

Gus had cleaned out his supply of Med-X. Justin looked over to the Supercomputer. The bags that hung from it were torn and tossed. He had probably cleaned him out of more than just drugs.

Justin got to his feet. The armor frame on his legs whirred and whined, blood dried into its gears. He walked over to the Supercomputer, but didn't have much of a plan after that. He stared at it rather helplessly for a few minutes while Stock orbited him.

Coming back to his senses, Justin looked to Stock. He whistled and she stopped orbiting, turning to face him. "Stock, you need to go find Dr Tanner." He said. While Barrel could only recognize some vocal commands, and Lock even less, Stock had always been reliable. She beeped and the lights on her chassis blinked blue for a moment, and then she turned and puttered off. He'd programmed Dr Tanner's usual rotation schedule into all three of his eyebots some time ago for this particular case. If he remembered correctly, she should be less than a couple days walk from here.

Justin turned, looking back to the bodies that lined the street. There were more inside the Hostel. Matt still lay where he'd been thrown, and down the road was Bethany, surrounded by the ghouls she had felled in her last moments.

'_These people were at least worth the time it takes to bury them.' _It was Tanner's voice in his head. She'd taken the time to help him bury the remnants of his old life, almost 4 years ago. Ever since, he'd tried his best to do at least that. He coughed. His jawline burned where the glass and who knew what else had ripped into it. His stomach couldn't decide if he was ravenously hungry or if he was going to throw up everything inside him. He wanted to pack up what remained of his supplies and flee west, to Port Authority, and drown the last week in alcohol. Instead he sighed, turning back toward the Hostel. He couldn't leave quite yet. He had a job to do.

The End


End file.
